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Daily Archives: February 2, 2009

Rutgers incoming recruit Mohamed Sanu enrolled early and will participate in spring camp next month. (Photo by Andrew Miller/Courier News)

Samir Sanu sees the straight-laced young man and marvels how he turned out the way he did. Sure, Mohamed Sanu is his brother but Samir says he would feel the same way even if the recently-graduated South Brunswick High School star and Rutgers football recruit wasn’t related.

“”He’s one of a kind,” Samir said. “”You really don’t find too many kids like Mohamed. He’s so humble, and I’m not saying that because he’s my brother. I swear he’s more concerned about pleasing other people than he is for himself. There’s times when I’m like, ‘Mohamed, Tell me what you need.’ I’d bend over backwards for the kid but that’s just not his character.”

If one only knew how Mohamed Sanu’s story began, they would predict a different ending. Nomadic doesn’t even begin to describe the path Sanu took before settling last month at Rutgers.

Born in New Brunswick, Sanu was moved to the Sierra Leone and back to Central New Jersey before age 6. Held back in the first grade because of a language barrier, Sanu moved with his father to Atlanta, Ga., after his parents split and then back to Sayreville all before entering the fourth grade.

“”I think it’s a credit to him to adapt to every situation that he’s been in,” Samir said. “”For a kid not to grow up with both parents you’d expect, once things went the wrong way, for him to go a different path. Never Mohamed.”

When his mother, Aminata, moved back to Sierra Leone — she owns a business and still spends half the year in West Africa — Mohamed and Samir moved in with their sister Haja, who’s 13 years Mohamed’s elder.

“”Mohamed didn’t really have what I’d call a normal upbringing,” Haja Jabbie said. “”Our parents went through a divorce when he was very young, and he moved around a lot. So you go through all those different changes in life it can be difficult for a child but he never let that get that to him.”

Mohamed Sanu passed for 900 yards and rushed for 700 in leading South Brunswick to its first playoff berth in 30 years in 2007. (HNT file photo)

Haja had just started a family with her husband Sheku when she took in Samir and Mohamed in 2000. Samir was a rising basketball star who would go on to earn a scholarship to Rider while Mohamed was just starting to show his football talent.

“”When we lived in Sayreville, I really didn’t know the type of talent Mohamed had,” Haja said. “”Then one day I went to see him playing Pop Warner and that’s when I realized he was so far advanced than the other kids. He was throwing the ball so accurately but the kids couldn’t catch it because he was throwing it so hard. So they moved him to receiver.”

This is not a championship team. This is a 12-7 team that Tuesday night has to play the University of Connecticut in Hartford. Connecticut, of course, has pounded everyone and is No. 1 in the country.

“”My intensity and my frustration is at an all-time real high. I’m right here on the edge and I’m tired of dealing with this mess,” Stringer said of her group. “”They don’t hold each other accountable. They don’t hold anybody else accountable. They don’t say anything. If I’m playing with you, and you’re causing me to run (suicides in practice), I’m gonna beat the hell
out of you.”

Isaac Holmes, a four-star defensive tackle prospect from Hoboken High School, committed to Rutgers coach Greg Schiano after taking a weekend visit to Piscataway and is expected to sign a National Letter of Intent to play for the Scarlet Knights, according to Rivals.com.

The 6-3, 295-pound Holmes is the No. 21-rated DT prospect in the country, according to Rivals.com. A three-year starter who recorded 94 tackles and seven sacks for Hoboken last fall, Holmes had more than a dozen scholarship offers and picked Rutgers over Maryland, Pitt, Florida and Penn State.

Holmes is the 22nd prospect to pledge to Rutgers’ 2009 incoming recruiting class, which becomes official on Wednesday.

The search is over. After Jay Young moved on to take the Fairfield Stags head coaching spot, Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell had a major hole to fill on his assistant coaching staff. And while it seems like Pikiell did his due diligence interviewing for the position, he didn’t have to go far to fill it. […]

As East coast temperatures continue to rise, so do expectations for next season We are just now arriving at Memorial Day weekend, but the optimism around the Rutgers men’s basketball program is already in full bloom. Next season is the most anticipated in many years and postseason aspirations are warranted. Entering year four of the […]